Containers having their lower ends formed with a square bottom bag construction and their upper ends formed with a folding box construction are popular with purchasers, espcially purchasers of wearing apparel. Such containers have the advantages of a folding box combined with the convenience of a shopping bag which can be conveniently carried by handles at the end of the bag. Since the containers in which the goods are placed when sold to a customer adds to the overhead of the store, it is essential that the containers be capable of economical manufacture in order to be acceptable to merchandisers.
Conventional shopping bags are very widely used, and machinery has been developed for the automatic manufacture of shopping bags in large volume and at low cost.
This invention is believed to be the first construction and method which makes possible the manufacture on shopping bag type machines of containers having a bag construction at the lower end and a folding box construction at the upper end.
One of the disadvantages of the prior art has been that machines used for making the containers of the type to which this invention relates had no provision for attaching handles to the containers in such a way that the handle was a permanent part of the container. Either the handle had to be assembled with the bag after the bag was filled and during the closing of the bag, or handles had to be attached to the finished bags by a separate or additional operation, and usually a hand operation greatly increasing the cost of the containers.
By some changes in the design of the container and by a novel sequence in the manufacturing steps, this invention provides a better product with a permanently connected handle, greater strength and at greater economy in manufacture.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will appear or be pointed out as the description proceeds.